Chapter 334

The army of the Demon‑Suppressing Hall where You Ruo was located sped up; a hundred thousand li ahead, there was a military city of the Demon‑Suppressing Hall, where defenses were strict, massive numbers of troops were stockpiled, its defensive strength surpassed that of the 108 Iron‑Blood Cities by a margin, and heavy war secret treasures were stationed there.

Once we get there, we'll be safe…

"Once we get there, we'll be safe," a Demon‑Suppressing Hall officer said, trying to console You Ruo.

You Ruo's complexion was strange.

The few Ice Spirit God clansmen and several Savage God giants beside You Ruo also had odd expressions.

Once we get there, we'll be safe?

Why does that sound wrong? A lofty god, actually driven to this point by a mere mortal whose cultivation is only at the Life Pool realm? They've been forced… into a panicked flight?

You Ruo raised her hand, pointed a finger at the officer's nose, gritted her teeth and spat out a harsh tirade, finally managing only two weak words: "Trash!"

You Ruo instinctively glanced at the hundred‑zhang‑diameter Void‑Sealing Treasure Wheel atop the deck.

Two hours earlier, he had ordered the Void‑Sealing Treasure Wheel activated to trap Wu Tie and then annihilate him fully, but the wheel's power was clearly insufficient; Wu Tie violently broke free of its seal and counter‑killed three Embryo Treasury realm officers.

The sole Void‑Sealing Treasure Wheel in the fleet was also shattered by the backlash of Wu Tie's violent struggle; it now barely hovers above the deck, cracked everywhere and belching black smoke.

A tremendous boom struck.

A few li away, the giant deck ship close to You Ruo, a vessel carrying over ten thousand elite soldiers, was pierced through by Wu Tie's spear.

White Tiger Rend let out a piercing tiger roar; that ship had activated all its defensive formations and prohibitions, the barrier ten zhang thick, enough to withstand a prolonged joint assault by dozens of Embryo Treasury realm experts.

But Wu Tie now was in some strange state, having transformed into a thousand‑zhang giant, wielding a White Tiger Rend that stretched eighteen hundred zhang and had become unimaginably heavy; with a single strike, the formation barrier shattered like an eggshell.

On the ship, over half of the ten‑plus‑thousand elite troops were instantly crushed to bits; the remaining half hadn't even had time to flee when Wu Tie's head‑topped hundred‑zhang Tower of Rebirth emitted black ripples that swept outward.

Several thousand elites fell instantly, their bodies turning to dust; tens of thousands of sets of armor, weapons, and the storage artifacts on those soldiers flew up, forming a long river that the giant incarnation of Wu Tie gulped down in one mouthful.

Over a dozen Embryo Treasury realm officers, furious, charged at Wu Tie.

These officers glowed with treasure light, having gathered the army's finest defensive treasures; each activated dozens of defensive artifacts at once and jointly attacked Wu Tie.

Wu Tie's body flickered, waves of spatial ripples spreading out, and he vanished without a trace.

The dozen‑odd Embryo Treasury officers looked around bewildered; Wu Tie reappeared beside another deck ship a hundred li away. Again, White Tiger Rend roared, the ship was shattered in one blow, the Tower of Rebirth sent out black ripples, and ten thousand elites turned to smoke— their weapons, armor, and storage treasures all swallowed by Wu Tie in one gulp.

Wu Tie's body was entwined with misty torrents resembling flood dragons.

Red was flame, blue was ice, cyan‑white was flood, earth‑yellow was soil, blue‑green was wood qi, silver‑blue was lightning, pure white was geng metal… plus many other strange grand dao principles that absorbed worldly essence, turning into multicolored dragon‑like currents that coiled and danced around Wu Tie.

In the images of the primordial gods and mighty beings from ancient times, passed down to today, they are always shown holding various colored great serpents, flood dragons, and divine dragons.

Those great serpents, flood dragons, and divine dragons are not true serpent‑dragon kin; they are like Wu Tie now, whose comprehension and mastery of a certain heavenly dao have reached a certain level, letting his inner dao resonance leak out, merge with worldly essence, and naturally produce such phenomena.

Now Wu Tie is surrounded by over three hundred flood‑dragon‑like currents swirling and dancing; though not yet solidified, they are faintly outlined like flood dragons, proving that his grasp of the grand dao is deepening.

Despite the solemn, oppressive pressure emanating from Wu Tie, his face remained bewildered and chaotic; he ignored the shouts and curses of the Demon‑Suppressing Hall officers near and far, his body flickering and disappearing within rings of spatial ripples.

Dozens of furious thunderbolts howled in, nearly grazing Wu Tie's body as they passed.

But the thunderbolts need time to break through space, whereas Wu Tie escapes via spatial shift, which essentially costs no time.

Wu Tie was like a ferocious wicked wolf, closely tailing the massive fleet where You Ruo and the others were, slowly biting off chunks of bloody flesh from the fleet, mouthful after mouthful.

Every elite soldier on each deck ship would greatly replenish Wu Tie's cultivation resources.

After several hours of tossing and turning, spanning hundreds of thousands of li, Wu Tie's Life Pool realm mana crystals had nearly accumulated to half; his mana cultivation had increased by at least ten thousand times compared to before.

Although the quality of his mana hadn't changed fundamentally, Wu Tie's endurance in battle was greatly enhanced.

At the very least, he can now activate the Tower of Rebirth and unleash successive rounds of attacks, a dozen or more in a row.

Unlike before, when a single strike would drain all his mana.

In the high sky, a thumb‑thick strand of white light plummeted swiftly; at its base was a three‑zhang‑wide ball of light, inside which a tall figure could be faintly seen. Judging by the build, the features, and the familiar aura, this was clearly Sheng Yao returning to the battlefield with the aid of a heavenly artifact.

But this body was evidently a standby incarnation.

Its aura barely reached the middle stage of the Life Pool realm, and its power was extremely feeble.

The white light precisely descended onto the deck ship where You Ruo was, and Sheng Yao's angry roar came faintly from the high sky: "Lady You Ruo, my lord says…"

Wu Tie abruptly appeared beside the white light ball; White Tiger Rend let out a huge boom and pierced straight through the light ball.

Having expended a standby incarnation through the heavenly artifact's power, Sheng Yao rushed back to the battlefield at any cost, but before he could finish his sentence, Wu Tie's spear pierced him. White Tiger Rend trembled, Sheng Yao's body exploded violently, and then his soul was swallowed clean by White Tiger Rend.

"My lord says…" You Ruo gazed at the grisly sight above and murmured, "Did you come back just to die? Heh, your Light‑God clan souls are innately stronger than other races, but this fraction of a soul has been worn down—after all, it's been worn down… how much of your fractional soul can you afford to lose?"

"Are you here to fight… or just to joke?" You Ruo glanced around at the somewhat gloomy Demon‑Suppressing Hall forces, then slapped her forehead in vexation: "Just a Life Pool cultivator… did we underestimate him, or is the Divine Kingdom of Great Jin declining generation after generation, each worse than the last?"

She shook her head and said in a low voice, "This guy's condition is strange; he seems to have entered a state of dao comprehension… Retreat, pull back with all our strength, then think of a way to suppress him."

You Ruo's face was gloomy, her mood as dark as her complexion, almost dripping ink.

Originally we just wanted to take advantage of the favorable trade day to snatch some precious trade goods from Sheng Yao.

How did things turn out like this?

The trade goods were snatched away by a sudden thrust, Sheng Yao's incarnation was utterly wiped out, and we ourselves ended up so miserable, like a stray dog being chased!

What's infuriating is that he's still surrounded by over a million elite troops of the Demon‑Suppressing Hall.

This, this…

If You Ruo weren't here as a mere fragment of a spirit, he would surely be so angry he'd vomit blood.

Wu Tie kept appearing again and again, like a ghost flickering in and out of this massive army; each time he showed up, he could violently destroy a deck ship and then slaughter every Demon‑Suppressing Hall soldier aboard.

Even though there were over a dozen Embryo Treasury realm experts wrapped in layers of supreme defensive treasures, barely able to withstand the Tower of Rebirth's power, their speed was too slow; they simply could not catch up to Wu Tie.

All they could do was shout in furious frustration, watching helplessly as Wu Tie came and went freely within the vast fleet, slaughtering and devouring at will.

Tens of thousands of li ahead, a huge military city could be faintly seen nestled among lofty mountains and steep ridges, its whole body exuding an astonishing aura.

The deck ship where You Ruo was sped toward that military city.

This military city is also called Demon‑Suppressing City; it is the great rear of the 108 Iron‑Blood Cities, the largest troop‑stationing point of the Demon‑Suppressing Hall near the Great Rift Valley battlefield, and also its biggest logistics base; all the supplies and armaments of the 108 Iron‑Blood Cities are first shipped to Demon‑Suppressing City before being distributed onward.

The 108 Iron‑Blood Cities, together with all the strongholds on both sides of the Great Rift Valley, have their reserve forces stationed here day and night for training—whether they are elite Demon‑Suppressing Hall soldiers or the dwarf warriors used as cannon fodder.

Within Demon‑Suppressing City there are also vast numbers of high‑level cultivators; just those like Mister Mu, who have perfected a grand dao to near‑completion at the Embryo Treasury realm peak, number nearly a thousand.

Above the city, twelve giant treasure wheels, each ten thousand zhang in diameter, have begun to turn slowly.

The color and luster were crystal clear, like a treasure wheel forged from crystal; each full rotation sent a thick ripple of space slowly spreading outward.

Within tens of thousands of li around Demon-Suppressing City, the void was viscous like a swamp.

The pleasure boat where You Ruo was, together with the entire fleet, had entered the protective circle of the twelve Void-Blocking Treasure Wheels.

Tiny space ripples suddenly appeared, bubbling up at the stern of a pleasure boat.

But it was obvious that the tiny space ripples undulated at a speed over a hundred times slower than before; Wu Tie's silhouette emerged bit by bit, slowly, as if squeezing out from a crack in a door, from the space ripples.

More than a dozen Fetal Storage Realm generals, armed to the teeth, charged at Wu Tie simultaneously, surrounding him and unleashing their full-force strike together.

With a tremendous boom, thunder and fire exploded within the void for several li around, and violent clusters of thunderfire, bitter cold, sharp qi, and aurora surged wildly in all directions.

Dozens of transparent holes appeared on Wu Tie's thousand-zhang-tall body; he let out a great roar, and the intense pain woke him from that inexplicable confused, muddled state, shattering his inexplicable enlightenment realm.

"You Ruo, I killed You Cang, I killed You Jieya… I heard that woman is your future consort?" Wu Tie burst into wild laughter: "Tsk… what can you do to me?"

Amid the laughter, Wu Tie whipped his spear shaft and sent a Fetal Storage Realm general flying; the man's body turned into a hazy golden light and flew back dozens of li, escaping the coverage of the Void-Blocking Treasure Wheels, then his body flickered and vanished completely within the rippling space.

More than a dozen Fetal Storage Realm generals then bombarded the direction where Wu Tie had disappeared in vain… but Wu Tie was already gone without a trace.

Two bottles of Essence of the Martial Star's power, two bottles of Essence of the Literary Star's power—four bottles of precious stellar essence in total—had been completely consumed during Wu Tie's pursuit. Now Wu Tie felt his body and soul were better than ever before.

The whole world seemed to have become much clearer and more intimate.

He could clearly sense the goodwill of this heaven and earth toward him; as each air molecule rolled over his skin, Wu Tie could feel these little fellows' affection for him.

A faint, wonderful feeling of unity between heaven and man.

Wu Tie drew a deep breath, and the wound that had just been torn open on his body instantly healed.

At this moment, not only his bones but his entire musculature, organs, and bodily tissues had been strengthened to an unbelievable degree. He was confident that his flesh now far surpassed, by many times, that of Zhurong's explosion he had seen before.

Now, the power contained in a single drop of Wu Tie's blood was enough to forge a minor expert.

Having healed his wounds, Wu Tie pointed a finger at the Tower of Reincarnation.

Black light swirled, the Tower of Reincarnation vanished, and an old iron in the shape of a wolf-dog appeared.

Wu Tie and Old Iron exchanged a few words; he grabbed Old Iron, tucked him under his arm, then tore open the void and rushed forward.

With the ability to teleport through shattered space, Wu Tie's travel speed became much faster.

After just a short half-hour, Wu Tie arrived outside the First City of Iron Blood; from afar he heard war drums beating continuously, and the Drought Demon Witch Altar hung high and proper above the city, continually pouring down strands of blood-red firelight.

Tens of thousands of Wu clan youths, their bodies entwined with the blood-red flames spewed by the Drought Demon Witch Altar, swelled to seven or eight meters tall, roaring like thunder as they charged back and forth within the city.

Their combat power was multiplied severalfold by the Drought Demon Witch Altar; each became like wolves and tigers, so that a Chonglou Realm warrior could suppress and beat the elite Life Pool Realm Demon-Suppressing troops inside the city, while a Life Pool Realm Wu clansman such as Wu Zheng could trade blows with an ordinary Fetal Storage Realm general.

The Demon-Suppressing troops inside the city outnumbered the Wu clansmen by severalfold, and the dwarf soldiers serving as cannon fodder were countless.

Yet with the Drought Demon Witch Altar's empowerment, the city's garrison almost collapsed at the first touch, and the altar continued to scorch the garrison's flesh and soul, causing their aura to dwindle ever weaker.

A Fetal Storage Realm Demon-Suppressing commander, his whole body ablaze with blood-colored flames and his flesh continually turning into drifting blue smoke, bellowed hoarsely, threw down his subordinates, and fled toward the city's exterior.

Two Wu clansmen pursued relentlessly, shouting and cursing nonstop.

That ill-fated Demon-Suppressing commander, having crashed headfirst into Wu Tie, with his strength evaporated by seventy or eighty percent from the Drought Demon Witch Altar, was blasted by Wu Tie's spear into a sky full of sparks.

Seeing Wu Tie strike and kill their target, the two Wu clansmen instantly flared with anger, shook their fists at him, grabbed their great axes, and rushed back into the First City of Iron Blood.

Wu Tie laughed loudly, also took up the White Tiger Rend, and joined the fierce battle within the city.

At this moment Wu Tie's strength had increased by an unknown amount; at the very least he could easily crush Demon-Suppressing Fetal Storage Realm generals who had not yet reached the peak.

The speed at which the city's garrison's resistance collapsed quickened further.

The Wu clan army gradually drove the city's defenders into a small corner of the city.

Just then, a cold, stern voice sounded from afar.

"Marvelous Commander's Order… who is the commander-in-chief that the Wu clan is responsible for here?"

"Good heavens… what do you Wu lot intend? How dare you bring such a massive killer weapon down to the ground? You have the gall of a giant dog, not reporting this to the Marvelous Commander—what are you planning to do?"